Unhinged Anti-Vaxxers

Discussion in 'Politics' started by gwb-trading, Jun 9, 2021.

  1. exGOPer

    exGOPer

    There are only three Covid-19 patients at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital at North Shore University Hospital, on Long Island, New York — a far cry from when the hospital, which is part of Northwell Health, had as many as 600 patients during the peak of the pandemic.

    All three patients, who are in the intensive care unit, have one thing in common, said Dr. Hugh Cassiere, director of the hospital's critical care services: They're unvaccinated.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...-patients-have-one-thing-common-they-n1270482
     
    #31     Jun 16, 2021
  2. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    Let's see the latest nonsense Unhinged Anti-Vaxxers are pushing...

    Fact check: White pine tea likely not helpful against COVID-19; vaccinated don't 'shed' particles
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...kely-not-helpful-against-covid-19/7651765002/

    The claim: White pine tea contains suramin and shikimic acid, which can prevent COVID-19 vaccinated people from “shedding” the spike protein

    From lemon drops and red onions to alkaline foods and high doses of vitamin C, the internet is full of alternative remedies claiming to be protective against COVID-19. None of these quick fixes have any scientific or clinical backing, but this hasn't stopped them from being suggested time and again on social media.

    And now the latest to join their ranks: drinking white pine tea can prevent COVID-19 vaccine shedding.

    "Concerned with vaxx shedding? White pine tea can stop it," claims a June 9 Instagram post.

    The poster alleges a chemical compound found in the tree's needles, called suramin, can prevent many of the supposed effects of vaccine shedding. In an accompanying infographic, such effects are listed as "inhibit(ing) inappropriate replication/modification of genetic material, stop(ping) the spike protein from disrupting (the) menstrual cycle and prevent(ing) damage from viral... and vax shedding."

    The post also touts the benefits of shikimic acid, saying it is "so important in surviving viral infections."

    But white pine tea doesn't prevent vaccine shedding among people who have received the COVID-19 shot because vaccine shedding caused by that injection isn't an actual phenomenon, experts say.

    And while some research has found suramin might be potentially helpful against COVID-19 infection, it doesn't come from pine needles, and both it and shikimic acid may actually be more harmful than beneficial.

    USA TODAY has reached out to the Instagram user for comment.

    Vaccinated people do not shed spike protein or the vaccine itself
    Vaccine shedding can rarely occur with some types of vaccines but not with the ones currently available for COVID-19.

    "As none of the current COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the USA contain live SARS-CoV-2 virus, viral shedding is not an issue for these vaccines," Dr. Matthew Laurens, an infectious disease specialist and vaccine researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in an email to USA TODAY.

    Live attenuated vaccines, or LAVs, refer to shots that contain a weakened version of the virus stripped of its ability to replicate. This form prevents it from stirring up serious disease and infection while still provoking a strong immune response. LAVs include those for smallpox, chickenpox and the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.

    The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine does use a common cold virus to carry and deliver the genetic instructions for the COVID-19 spike protein to cells (a technology known as a viral vector). But again, the virus is unable to make copies of itself to cause disease, said John Grabenstein of the Immunization Action Coalition and a former director of the Defense Department's immunization program.

    Similarly, the spike protein encoded by the messenger RNA, or mRNA, of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, can't be transmitted from one vaccinated person to another unvaccinated person

    "The mRNA vaccines make the spike protein for a few hours and then stop. They don't ever get outside the body," Grabenstein told USA TODAY.

    The post's claim white pine tea can stop "inappropriate replication/modification of genetic material" also has no basis in science; mRNA can't be incorporated into human DNA because it doesn't enter the nucleus, the cell's genetic powerhouse.

    Grabenstein explained that if the cell were a chicken egg, the nucleus would be the yolk and the cytoplasm – the area outside of the nucleus where other cellular structures like the mitochondria are found – would be the white of the egg. The mRNA strictly works in this "white" region and is degraded there once the cell produces the spike protein.

    There is still a small chance vaccinated people can get sick and spread the virus, called vaccine breakthrough cases. But this is expected since the vaccines don't confer 100% protection. And research suggests these individuals are less likely to transmit COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated people. And this spread isn't related to any kind of shedding, it's just natural disease spread as happens far more often between the unvaccinated.

    Fact check:Pennsylvania's mask mandate not over until June 28

    There is some evidence to suggest the COVID-19 infection itself, not being around people purportedly "shedding" the vaccine, can impact menstruation (thus a good reason for women to get vaccinated). Claims tying vaccine shedding to changes in one's period or miscarriages have been previously debunked by USA TODAY.

    Suramin not from pine needles and possibly toxic
    Contrary to the post's claim, suramin is not from white pine needles: it was created by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer in 1904 from a dye called trypan blue, commonly used in laboratories for cell staining.

    The chemical has been used as a drug to treat African sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly found only in sub-Saharan Africa. Suramin is not commercially available in the U.S. but can be obtained by physicians from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Laurens, the UMD infectious disease specialist, warned there are serious side effects associated with the drug: kidney and liver toxicity, eye reactions, adrenal insufficiency and allergic reactions resulting in inflammation and anemia, to name a few.

    Others on social media have presented suramin as a potential treatment, but the evidence behind that is mixed.

    Studies conducted in July and October 2020 found suramin might be able to prevent the coronavirus from replicating in cell cultures. But another study published online in May found that neither suramin nor another antiparasitic drug chloroquine could stop the virus from entering human cells – through a receptor called ACE2 – or from replicating.

    Fact check:COVID-19 vaccines don't produce dangerous toxins

    "The common and considerably toxic side effects of suramin and the lack of consistent, promising results from laboratory studies likely explain why suramin is not currently used to treat or prevent COVID-19," Laurens said.

    Shikimic acid may also be toxic
    Shikimic acid is a key ingredient in making influenza drug Tamiflu and can come from pine needles, but alone it can't be used for the treatment of any condition.

    "I would not expect that it could have any efficacy against COVID-19 if taken as an herbal remedy," Laurens said.

    He also cautioned shikimic acid by itself could be potentially carcinogenic, as one study in 1972 found mice that received it later developed "cancerous and precancerous lesions" in the stomach and malignant leukemia, a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues.

    Fact check:Fauci's emails don't show he 'lied' about hydroxychloroquine

    It's also important to note, the shikimic, or shikimate, pathway mentioned in the post as "important in surviving viral infections" is used by bacteria, fungi, some plants and algae to create basic amino acids. This pathway isn't present in humans since we get our essential amino acids from our diet and in-house gut bacteria.

    Our rating: False
    Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim white pine tea can prevent COVID-19 vaccinated people from “shedding” the spike protein. None of the COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. contain live coronavirus, and the spike protein cannot be transmitted from one person to another. Suramin, which is not from white pine, does not have conclusive evidence backing its use to treat COVID-19. The only chemical compound mentioned in the post that is from pine needles, shikimic acid, can't be used to treat any condition alone and may actually be toxic.
     
    #32     Jun 16, 2021
  3. LacesOut

    LacesOut

    LOL.
     
    #33     Jun 16, 2021
  4. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    The case for vaccination is overwhelming. Anti-vaxxers are ignoring medical science.
    https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...on-anti-vaxxers-covid-19-vaccines-myths-facts

    Democracy can thrive only in an atmosphere of individual freedom; however, absolute freedom can lead to a state of anarchy. Democracy allows individuals the freedom to do what they want as long as it does not impinge on the freedom of others. We are all dependent on each other to maintain a democracy or for that matter a civilized society. No one individual’s freedom is worth more than another individual’s freedom.

    Based on this definition, can those who do not wish to be vaccinated claim that they have the freedom to choose whether they wish to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or not? In a global pandemic, anti-vaxxers exerting their individual freedom are impinging on the freedom of those who have been vaccinated and wish to return to daily living as soon as herd immunity is reached. Anti-vaxxers are ignoring medical science and instead being brainwashed by conspiracy theories to the extent that they will delay or even prevent normalcy for the rest of us.

    The case for vaccination is overwhelming. Vaccines saved 37 million lives, mostly children, over the past two decades. The wild poliovirus has been eradicated in all continents except Asia. Smallpox is a thing of the past. To any truly informed individual, the case for vaccines should be irrefutable. Here are the myths that I have heard discussed in public places about the mRNA vaccines, and the facts as published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and John Hopkins Medicine.

    Myth: Drug companies rushed the development of the COVID-19 vaccine without proper testing, so its effectiveness and safety cannot be trusted.

    Fact: Researchers have been working on the mRNA vaccines for two decades. Drug companies tested the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on greater than 40,000 individuals to make sure it is safe and effective.

    Myth: COVID-19 vaccines can give you COVID-19 infection.

    Fact: mRNA vaccines or the traditional vaccines do not have the live virus. The vaccines only help to teach our cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.

    Myth: mRNA vaccines have a DNA chip to track an individual.

    Fact: mRNA vaccines do not affect or interact with our DNA in any way. The mRNA never enters the nucleus of the cell, which is where our DNA (genetic material) is kept. The cell breaks down and gets rid of the mRNA soon after it is finished using the instruction.

    Myth: mRNA vaccines can affect a woman’s ability to get pregnant or damage or reject the placenta.

    Fact: mRNA vaccines give instructions to our cells to make the “spike protein,” which is also found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. The spike protein called syncitin-1 that is involved in the growth and attachment of the placenta during pregnancy is completely different and distinct from the COVID-19 spike protein, therefore the spike protein of COVID-19 will not interfere with syncitin-1. Studies claim that no injury was noted to the placenta in women who were given COVID-19 vaccine during their pregnancy, whereas injury to placenta was noted in women who had contracted COVID-19 infection during pregnancy.

    Myth: The side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine are dangerous and can kill people.

    Fact: Every drug has benefits and risks. The benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the risk. Short-term side effects are preferable to getting the infection, which can kill you. Those with allergies to certain substances or taking certain medicines that could increase the risk of side effects are advised to seek guidance from their doctor.

    If anti-vaxxers are still not persuaded by facts regarding the mRNA vaccines, they have the choice of the traditional COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately, the U.S. has plenty of COVID-19 vaccines, so it is a travesty that anti-vaxxers who make up a significant portion of the population refuse to let the rest of us return to normalcy. As of this week, nearly 65 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Hopefully, the offering of financial incentives and employers making it mandatory to get vaccinated prior to resuming work will motivate the unvaccinated. On the other hand, should we reward bad behavior? Well, if it makes the world safe, and if it helps avoid another lockdown especially after each state opens up, we would each have played a part in returning to normalcy. So let’s all make it happen!
     
    #34     Jun 17, 2021
  5. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    #35     Jun 17, 2021
    wrbtrader and userque like this.
  6. wrbtrader

    wrbtrader

    People are starting to now be shot dead when they ask someone to wear a face mask / wear their face mask properly in a place of business.
    I'm expecting to soon start hearing shooting news about an anti-vaxxer shooting people at their workplace after the employer tells them to get vaccinated or find another job. I say this because there's been record number of attacks on airline flight attendants so far in 2021.
    Young people gone Wild

    wrbtrader
     
    #36     Jun 17, 2021
  7. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    #37     Jun 21, 2021
  8. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    Anti-vaxxer John Stockton downplays COVID in 'over-the-top' documentary
    Jazz great not so good on the science stuff, even though he claims ‘research’
    https://deadspin.com/anti-vaxxer-john-stockton-downplays-covid-in-over-the-t-1847129412

    Former long-time Utah Jazz point guard and Hall of Famer John Stockton has appeared in an anti-vaccine documentary, saying things that you normally would say in an anti-vaccine documentary.

    NBC News Reporter Ben Collins first let the streets know on Twitter what Stockton had been up to, and evidently, he’s far from alone. The quote under Stockton in advertisement for this documentary reads, “One of the things that sticks in my head is losing someone like Steph Curry to basketball would be a crime,” he said. “I just think what a disappointment to this world it would be if that guy didn’t become who he is. So I wonder, who are we missing out on right now.”



    Someone clipped part of the documentary’s trailer to show Stockton’s portion, which sounds like he’s about to introduce The Avengers’ newest member because of the background music. Instead, he says the following: “It’s not a virus cheating us of this opportunity, it’s the guys making decisions saying, ‘No no, we’re too scared. We’re gonna shut everything down. Sit down in your house and be careful.”

    The ex-Gonzaga Bulldog even went on to add that he conducted his own research, which he’s holding to a higher regard than the health professionals who are researching all this for a living, a common pivot from people who have yet to be vaccinated, and probably won’t be.

    (More about the rantings of this unhinged lunatic in the article)
     
    #38     Jun 21, 2021
  9. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    #39     Jun 26, 2021
  10. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    #40     Jun 27, 2021